Animal Collective's all-too-infectious single "My Girls" may be getting spun in the clurrrb by the DJ who insisted on playing "Music is My Hot Hot Sex" over and over seven whole months after it accompanied the iPhone commercials, but let us not forget that Avey Tare & Co. used to mess around in their basements (and probably still do to a large extent) creating weirdo-beardo bleeps, blops, and ambient nature recordings.
That said, Animal Collective's label Paw Tracks plans to re-release 2003's über-minimalist Campfire Songs (TMT Review) on January 26. I applaud this development, because without it, Campfire Songs would have gone out of print entirely on its former record label Catsup Plate, slipping further and further into relative obscurity.
Campfire Songs, as some of you might know, is a hodgepodge of five songs recorded entirely without electronics, instead choosing to focus on minimalist acoustic strumming, the back-to-nature (and very real) sound of birds chirping in the distance, and AC's trademark experimentalist harmonies. The album, which was literally made behind a screen door in Maryland, is recorded so that the listener can hear small gusts of wind and nature sounds in the background, providing a tangible "feeling and atmosphere of the outdoors and the warmth of a fire." The tracklist is below:
1. Queen in My Pictures
2. Doggy
3. Two Corvettes
4. Moo Rah Rah Rain
5. De Soto De Son
Meanwhile, the Collected Animals message board is abuzz about a rumored new EP, titled Fall Be Kind, supposedly set for release December 8 via Domino. The source? This Amazon order page. Since it's priced at $11.38, perhaps this could be a full-length? No confirmation from any camp just yet, but we'll keep you updated.
